


Realistically Speaking...

by TheSovereigntyofReality



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Not Natasha Friendly, Not overly Steve Friendly, POV Third Person, Result of watching videos exploring the consequences of reversing the Snap, Team Tony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-06
Updated: 2019-06-06
Packaged: 2020-04-11 23:15:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19119688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSovereigntyofReality/pseuds/TheSovereigntyofReality
Summary: Wipe out half of all life and the survivors will adapt.That's the way humans have been throughout history. We adapt and survive.Tony refuses to get involved in the plan to reverse the Snap.Over time, Scott Lang comes to see the sense in it.





	Realistically Speaking...

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer: If you recognise it from somewhere else, it isn't mine.**

At first, it was easy to agree with the Avengers and say that Tony Stark was being selfish when he refused to try and reverse the Snap. He’d agreed to meet with Scott (but none of the others, even though Natasha invited herself along) but when he’d heard what they wanted, he gave them a flat “no”.

Natasha had then engaged in what Scott recognised as blatant manipulations. In prison, he’d seen more than enough of that kind of behaviour to recognise it. But it usually came from the criminals trying to dominate the other prisoners. He’d never expected to see it in a member of the Avengers.

First, she’d appealed to his ego. ‘Come on, Tony. You’re the only one who can do it. Just think about it. You’ll create something that every other scientist in the world only dreams of.’  
He didn’t fall for it. Neither did he fall for the challenge tactic (in which she accused him of cowardice), guilt-tripping (in which she tried to make him feel bad for Clint’s family dying), or her final attempt. Although, Scott didn’t see what insulting the guy was supposed to achieve. Still, she said it.

‘You need to get over yourself, Tony. This is not about you.’

Tony smirked, as if this was an old tactic he just could be bothered to be bothered by anymore. ‘You’re right.’ He stood up and waved the waitress over. ‘This isn’t about me. It’s about everyone who’s left. It’s about those people you want to bring back. Lang, at least, has an excuse.’ He then paid the waitress and gave her a generous tip. ‘But you’ve had five years to come to terms with what happened. This isn’t about the people to you. You lost, and you can’t handle it.’

Then he walked away, and he didn’t look back.

Natasha seemed far more affected by what he said to her than anything she said to him had affected him.

Then reality set in.

Scott realised, very quickly, that with Maggie and Jim both gone – and him reappearing – that he was Cassie’s sole legal guardian. He had to look after his peanut. He had to get a new job and provide for her. That, of course, led to him backing out of the Avengers and dropping the whole thing. He still got occasional calls from Steve, checking that he was still in as soon as they got Tony to help.

But Tony obviously wasn’t interested in helping.

Nobody even knew where he lived anymore.

Scott got an invitation to come up to find the Infinity Stones so they could restore everybody, but he declined. At the time he’d been working long days and helping Cassie catch up on the schoolwork she’d missed while she’d had no guardians. Apparently, someone forgot to mention that Captain America was shit at taking “no” for an answer. He’d argued, pretty vehemently, for Scott to abandoned his daughter and come across the universe for the rest of them. But his arguments pretty much amounted to “it was your idea to begin with” before some woman called Captain Marvel had taken the phone off of him.

When he repeated his reasons to her, she said, ‘I understand. Your daughter needs you far more than we do. No one should be asking you to _abandon_ her just for a long shot.’ That last sentence, he was sure, was directed more at Rogers.

That was when Scott started seeing things from Tony’s point of view.

Moreso, when, months later, he got a call from Natasha, saying that they’d found out that Thanos had destroyed the Infinity Stones and they were planning on going back in time to complete the mission. They just needed Tony’s help. Scott had hardly been able to believe the level of delusion. He just said “good luck with that” and hung up.

Evidently, they had no more success than he expected because the next he saw them – cause he’d started ignoring their calls – they were on TV, explaining their idea to a press conference. They were also openly accusing Tony of non-cooperation. If this was their plan to use the public to make him bend to their whims, it backfired horribly.

Almost immediately, people started picking their plan apart.

First of all, there was the heavy scepticism that time travel was even possible.

Then the idea of what would happen if they managed to pull it off.

Of those reasons, there was the more practical issues: _How would people come back?_ One blogger wrote. _Would they appear exactly where they vanished? What if they spot where they vanished is now unsustainable? A condemned building as a result from the loss of manpower? Would they appear in that spot on the road only to get hit by a car and die again? What if they died in a spot that’s now been made into a reservoir?_

Then there were the deeper questions.

 _‘This economy,’_ one expert on TV said, _‘has been altered to be sustained on the significantly smaller number of people we do have. We all saw Stark Industries working their butts off to get that done so that people could still survive – so the economy suffered as little as possible. What would happen if you brought back all those people? Well, aside from the fact that all of their assets were passed on with their deaths, there would be no place to employ them. We would most likely face the biggest refugee crisis in history. Unemployment would be at an all-time high, which would lead to higher crime rates. And then we’d have to adjust the system again. It was difficult enough the first time.’_

Then, there was the more personal questions.

 _‘What would it be like for those people who came back from the dead?’_ a YouTuber asked. _‘They lost five years. What about the children who lost their parents in the Decimation? Most of them have been put into orphanages or foster care. Are you gonna track every single one of those kids down? Of course not! That would take years! What about the parents who lost their children? Some of them have moved to escape the memories. What are you gonna do then? What about the people that are brought back? Are they gonna instantly go to homes that aren’t theirs anymore? No, this is a disaster waiting to happen if they did manage it. The fact is that we’ve adapted. And it’s really sad that they haven’t.’_

And...somewhere along the line, Scott realised that he’d moved on too.

But the Avengers kept crying out.

It got so bad that they were, with help from a group of other enhanced people, taken into protective custody and put into...well, they called it government care.

Scott wasn’t sure if that was a euphemism and he didn’t want to know.

Then Stark called him again. He wanted to talk.

Nervous, Scott had brought Cassie with him – just in case Tony Stark turned out to be as bad as Hank always said he was.

No, Tony just wanted to talk about how Scott ended up divorcing himself from the Avengers. He seemed to get his answer as soon as Scott explained that Cassie was his daughter, though. a couple of months later, Scott learned why. And he found out where Tony lived.

He and Cassie were invited to the Starks’ cabin in the forest.

In the background, there was a news program running on Clint’s trial for vigilantism. Scott asked about it.

‘Even if they were criminals,’ Tony had said, ‘Barton has no authority to go around shooting them dead. He has no right to do that.’

‘Wow,’ Scott had said, ‘those guys are really used to getting away with murder, aren’t they?’

‘Quite literally,’ Tony said. ‘But you never heard about that because it’s not very heroic.’

Then they got to talking about the big stuff while Cassie looked around the property.

‘You were never tempted?’ Scott asked.

‘My parents were murdered when I was seventeen,’ Tony said. ‘And my dad sucked at parenting. The family butler did that for me. He died of cancer when I was nineteen. Ever since I’ve known Rhodey, him dying was always a possibility. He’s an Air Force airman. The guy that saved my life in Afghanistan? He died getting me out. Then I had to kill my godfather and mentor or he’d have killed me. Death is a permanent state. I learned that long ago. The only thing you can do for the dead, is to live.’

Of course, at that moment, the front door swung open and Scott learned why Tony had been really determined not to get involved in a fool’s errand.

‘Daddy! Daddy!’

A small girl, about four years old, rushed out.

Tony grinned and turned to face her. ‘Hiya, squirt.’ He pulled her up onto his lap. ‘What’s up?’

The little girl waved the ice cream in her hand. ‘I got a juice pop.’

And that was how Scott met Morgan Stark.

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly, while I personally do think certain people should come back (Spider-Man), realistically that wouldn't happen.
> 
> The people left, as humans are wont to do, would adapt to the way the world is now. And why should Tony get involved when he's moved on with his life? Oh, right! Because he's the only one who could build a functional time machine.
> 
> That's it. That's the whole reason.
> 
> Scott is really the only one I forgive. He came back to find that half of all life was gone - including Hank, Hope, and Janet - so he would've been grieving fresh. And bargaining is a part of grief. So...him, I'll forgive.
> 
> The others, less so.


End file.
